Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Man, for a hot minute there I was beginning to think the masterminds over at Target were mad genuises. Today however, I have been proven oh so wrong. It all started when Target brokered a deal with designer Anna Sui for her "Gossip Girl" inspired clothing line. Which by the way turned out to be simply recycled looks from her old collections, but that isn't the problem. The show's "raunchy" storylines are. And consequently Target is insisting that Anna Sui remove the GG name from her line. One source claims that “One of Target’s top executives got nervous about being that closely associated with the show, given the [debauchery] its characters get into.” Whether it's the sex, drugs or murder that has gotten under the skin of execs, one thing is for sure: the clothes will be sold, but they will not have an association with Gossip Girl. A source on the set of the show says that a party scene featuring Blair and Chuck was set to shoot at Sui’s flagship store in SoHo last Tuesday; models being used as extras were to wear Sui’s Target collection. “There was going to be signage, as well as Target symbols in purple and black — Anna’s signature colors,” says the snitch. “And it was rumored that Anna herself was going to be making a cameo appearance.” Target staffers even sent over boxes of clothes for the episode, labeled with the names of each female character. But the store pulled out at the last second. Now, claims our source, everyone on set is furious. “The crew was thrown into a frenzy because they had to scrap everything they had planned,” says the insider. “They can’t believe Target would bail on them, especially after publicly announcing the collaboration. It’s Target’s loss, because the line would have sold better if it had played a part in the show.”Put quite simply, Target is making a dumb ass decision. If they blatantly used the Gossip Girl name I guarantee you this collection would sell out within a day at the very most. Besides, if they are going to throw a Big Brother fuss about associating themselves with Gossip Girl, then why are they still selling their dvds and other merchandise? Personally I see no difference in a dvd or a sweater-it's still the same brand so what's the problem?